Karajan‘s first recording of the Verdi Requiem was made at a time when he was laboriously rebuilding his career. It harbours not only echoes of the war but the uncertainties of the post-war period. Nevertheless the expressive power and spontaneity of the performance reveal a conductor who commands his audience no less than his orchestra.
This live recording was made in 1949 at the Salzburg Festival with outstanding singers of the time: Hilde Zadek, a very young recently hired by the Vienna State Opera; Margarete Klose, a singer equally admired by Furtwängler; Helge Rosvaenge, the busiest tenor of the period; and the great Boris Christoff.
Hilde Zadek, Margarete Klose, Helge Rosvaenge, Boris Christoff
Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien
Wiener Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan
Live Recording 1949.
Salzburger Festspiele.
Tracklisting:
CD 1:
1. Applaus (0:49)
2. Requiem (Messa da Requiem)
2.1. Requiem (Requiem) (5:34)
3.2. Kyrie (3:52)
4.3. Dies irae (Dies irae) (2:14)
5.4. Tuba mirum (2:16)
6.5. Mors stuprbit (1:44)
7.6. Liber scriptus (5:24)
8.7. Quid sum miser (3:57)
9.8. Rex tremendae (3:55)
10.9. Recordare (4:17)
11.10. Ingemisco (4:08)
12.11. Confutatis (6:33)
13.12. Lacrymosa (6:20)

CD 2:
13. Offertorium (Offertorium) (5:08)
14. Hostias (6:19)
15. Sanctus (Sanctus) (2:50)
16. Agnus Dei (Agnus Dei) (5:16)
17. Lux aeterna (Lux aeterna) (6:43)
18. Libera me (Libera me) (2:12)
19. Dies irae (2:23)
20. Reqiuem (2:52)
21. Libera me (6:17)
Released 2010.